Volvo

The ungenerous might accuse Volvo of masochism. American drivers have shown themselves to be mostly unmoved by the appeal of a capable wagon, and yet the 2020 Volvo V60 Cross Country refuses to give up on the category. Flying in the face of SUVs and crossovers, it's an unexpectedly compelling reminder that sometimes you just don't realize what you're missing out on.

It's easy to get confused by the badging on the 2020 Volvo XC60 Polestar Engineered. Once a separate tuning firm for Volvo, Polestar then got bought up and brought in-house, only to be subsequently spun off as a standalone maker of performance-electric cars. Among the details of that final deal are plenty of Volvo parts headed into the upcoming Polestar 1 and Polestar 2, while in return Polestar contributes its know-how for feistier versions in Volvo's range.

It's been five years since the second-generation Volvo XC90 began the wholesale reboot of the automaker's range, and it's fair to say that the 2020 XC90 arrives - refreshed and updated - on a high. The Swedes aren't typically prone to either smugness or boasting, but with Volvo sales in the US up almost 5-percent so far this year, versus the industry as a whole down almost 2-percent over the same period, it's clear they're doing something right.

Volvo's subscription car service, Care by Volvo, is expanding, with the promise of more vehicle choice, swifter applications, and cars arriving on your drive faster. Launched in 2017 with the XC40 crossover, Care by Volvo joined traditional finance and lease options with a single monthly payment that covered everything but the fuel.

Volvo's Vera electric self-driving trucks are headed to public roads with their first proper job, with the autonomous haulers set to shuttle containers to a Swedish port. Revealed in 2018, Vera is the handiwork of the Volvo Trucks division, a driverless alternative to traditional trucks for short distances of travel.

Uber has revealed its new autonomous car, a self-driving Volvo SUV that the ride-hailing company says is finally production ready. The reveal comes after controversy around Uber's driverless development, which included a collision in mid-2018 that saw a pedestrian killed by a prototype vehicle.

Polestar may be busy working on its Polestar 2 electric sedan, but that hasn't stopped it rubbing some magic onto the new Volvo V60 and XC60 for a hybrid performance upgrade. Following on from the 2019 Volvo S60 Polestar Engineered, the new hybrid wagon and SUV will each get 415 horsepower to play with.

Volvo's decision to limit the top speed of its new cars was only the start of it, with the automaker announcing new smart controls, driver monitoring, and collaboration with the rest of the industry to cut road safety accidents and death. The Swedish firm divided opinion among drivers earlier this month, when it announced it would be capping the maximum speed of its new cars from 2020, limiting them to 112 mph.

Volvo will limit the top speed of all of its cars to 112 mph from 2020, the automaker has announced today, the surprise next step in its Vision 2020 safety scheme. Announced in 2014, Volvo Vision 2020 saw the company target no fatalities or serious injuries in a new Volvo by 2020. Until now, that's meant a suite of active and passive safety features, but now Volvo is taking it further.

Volvo has revealed its refreshed 2020 XC90 SUV, but more important than the gently-massaged design is the new mild hybrid system that the automaker says will spread throughout its range. The second-generation XC90 was the first of Volvo's reinvention vehicles, launching a new design language, new range of engines, and a more luxurious - and distinctly Swedish - experience inside back in 2014.

It was while going sideways on a frozen lake in the 2020 Volvo V60 Cross Country that I began to seriously question the wisdom of giving the American customer what they want. For years now, the answer to that question at car dealerships across the US has been "an SUV, please." That may be what they want, but what they actually need is something very different.

Car dashboards are about to get more interesting, with Volvo's electric performance brand Polestar revealing a sneak preview of the Android-based Google HMI that the companies have been collaborating on. Set to grace the touchscreen of the upcoming Polestar 2, the Swedish automaker's all-electric car, the new interface will be among the first to be completely based on Android.